A driver told today how she almost ran over George Michael as he tumbled from a car on the M1.

Katherine Fox, 23, claimed she was forced to slam on her brakes as she saw the singer fall from the moving car.

She said he was left dazed and covered in blood with his clothes ripped on a four-lane stretch of the motorway near St Albans.

Ms Fox, a nanny, quickly reversed her Mini to stop him being hit by other vehicles, while an off-duty policeman also stopped and directed traffic around the accident scene until paramedics arrived.

She said the star, 49, was lucky to be alive. Ms Fox told the Sun: “I saw blood everywhere and a man on the ground. I asked what had gone on and was told he tried to open the car door and shut it again because it wasn’t shut properly and apparently fell out at 70mph.

“I was on the phone to the ambulance and said, ‘You’d better come quick. This doesn’t look good’.”

She described how the star’s black and gold Adidas tracksuit was ripped down the arm and said he had no trainers on. Ms Fox said she grabbed one from the second lane because cars were swerving to avoid it. She said his sunglasses were also in the road and she heard the crunch as cars drove over them.

The singer was travelling with two friends when the incident happened last Thursday. They pulled on to the hard shoulder and ran back across two lanes of traffic to help him.

Ms Fox said: “George didn’t say anything, he just seemed in shock. He was sitting down against a car and in the arms of his friend. The guy holding him was quite scared. He kept saying to George, ‘Are you all right mate?’

“I think George was lucky he didn’t die.”

The star was airlifted to hospital with a head injury, although his publicist Connie Filipello passed off his injuries as “superficial cuts and bruises”.

His boyfriend, Fadi Fawaz, later said he was doing well: “I’ve spoken to him and he’s good.” It is the latest in a list of dramas for the troubled singer. He was close to death 18 months ago after being struck down with pneumonia in Vienna, but he fought back to perform again.

In September 2010 he received an eight-week prison sentence after crashing his Range Rover into a shop in north London.

He was also given a five-year driving ban after he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of drugs and possessing cannabis.

He had earlier been banned from driving for two years and sentenced to 100 hours of community service in 2006 when he was convicted of driving while unfit through drugs after he was found collapsed in his Mercedes.

Hertfordshire Police said they were investigating the latest incident and have interviewed Ms Fox as a key witness.

A spokeswoman said: “Investigations are continuing and it is going to take several weeks to establish exactly what happened.”